Triangulation, Emotional Reactivity, and Violence in the Niger Delta

The Niger Delta conflict, for many years, was blamed on myriadforces, including greed, economic exploitation, pollution and ecological damage,resource appropriation and distribution disputes, ethno-religious antagonisms, poverty,unemployment, large-scale infrastructural deficits, corruption, militarization of oilproducing communities and election processes, sociopolitical marginalization, cultism,and weapons proliferation. While all of these issues are important, they are not nearlyas important as the deliberate roles played by high-level social, economic, andpolitical interests who activated violence as a means to secure economic advantage fromthe delta’s oil industry. This study shines the light on this small, exclusive, and verypowerful group whose actions triggered off the violence and yet are at the center ofefforts to institute peace including the current disarmament, demobilization, andreintegration (DDR) program. I argue that unless the contributions of these powerfulinterests are carefully teased out and the structures they have built to advantagethemselves from the conflict are dismantled, peace will remain elusive in the NigerDelta